With gasoline prices increasing weekly, and sometimes almost seemingly daily, many people are thinking of alternative forms of transportation away from the internal combustion engine. Fellow Magnolian John Blaine, 67, is one of those people. Except that he’s moved beyond just switching to a simple bicycle, Blaine pedals a bright yellow, fully-enclosed, streamlined tricycle called a Velomobile.
“Some people see it,” he told me,” and call me the Yellow Submarine or ‘Banana Man.’”
Blaine’s Velomobile besides being pedal powered is also only the second one in existence with an electric assist 1000 watt motor utilizing Lithium batteries.
One morning, I was sitting in my usual spot in the bakery, mug in hand, when Blaine rode up for a cup of Java too. Anything with wheels fascinates me, so I started to ask him some questions. The swoopy tricycle’s wheel’s are arranged so that you sit between the two drive wheels while the wheel that does the steering is trailing behind you.
To ride the bike, you crawl down into the tight fitting cockpit and the pedals for your feet are out forward of your recumbent position, then the steering yoke and all of its controls swings down into position in your lap.
It turns out that the Velomobile was designed by Velomobiel.nl in Holland and is now licensed to be built in Toronto and then distributed in the Northwest by Rainshadow Velo on Orcas Island. Rainshadow is committed to environmentallly friendly alternative transportation options, however their main line of business is the installation of conversions to solar energy in housing on Orcas.
Blaine has been living in Magnolia for 32 years now and has recently retired from the King County Environmental Lab.
He found out about the Velomobile one day when he read an article as he was leafing through a Popular Mechanics magazine. It was 2009 and he was recovering from open heart surgery because of a heart tumor. Blaine had been looking for an inspiring form of cardio exercise to keep his heart rate up and well, just sitting in a corner pedaling away on an exer-cycle sounded a little boring. He needed something with a little excitement.
Blaine finally saw a Velomobile at the Seattle Bike Expo and it took him almost a year to track down the distributor. By 2010 though, he was the proud owner of his own Quest model Velomobile. Riding a Velomobile isn’t a cheap exchange for a 10-speed bike, Blaine thinks he probably has around $17,000 invested so far in his ride.
A look through the Rainshadow Velo catalog reveals that there are four models of the Velomobile being produced; the Team, the Strada, the Cab-Bike, and the Quest. The Team is the entry level model, followed by the Strada, Cab-Bike and Quest models.
The Quest is the flagship of all velomobiles being produced today. The design of the Quest incorporates full suspension, drum brakes, front and rear lighting, a trip computer, and a kayak-style ‘skirt’ and convertible top to protect the rider in cold or wet weather. There is also a lengthy options list of available features to add to the Quest model.
The Quest’s aerodynamic body was designed to take advantage of hours of wind tunnel testing it received and because of it has turned the Quest into a human powered rocket that seems to defy the laws of physics. The aero slick body maximizes the speed that can be achieved under pedal power, far exceeding what is possible on an upright road, or even a time trial bike. The reduction of aero drag also makes the velomobile easier to pedal.
Blaine told me the story of how the Orcas vendor, hurrying to make a ferry, rode his Quest through a police radar trap at the bottom of a downhill section of road at 71 mph in a 40 mph speed zone. The Quest is simply the fastest production, human-powered vehicle available on the market today. Blaine says he commonly cruises at 30-40 mph on flat stretches of road; and Blaine also assures me that even though he has the potential, he’s not about to be speeding through the Village.
Keep an eye out for him, he’s the helmeted head in the yellow streak who could flash by.
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